Tag Archives: shannon

Owen Ryan SHANNON digital marketing company Core Optimisation is taking on 13 new staff, bringing the total number of employees to 30. Founded in 2015, it is now one of the country’s top digital transformation agencies, focusing on digital transformation strategy, search engine optimisation, paid search advertising, paid social media advertising and conversion optimisation. Limerick man Kieran O’Brien has joined the company as its Director of Marketing and Communications. He said that Core Optimisation is going through a period of rapid growth and it now has some remote workers. “It has kind of exploded in the last couple of months, and there’s a need to ramp up. The majority of people would be from Clare and Limerick, but there are people working from Portugal and Spain. One guy is working from Granada, one woman went home to Portugal when Covid came and she’s staying out there now. At the moment no one is really in the office, but when we …

Drone cargo services and air taxis on unmanned flights part of plan for Ireland’s first such facility THE people planning Ireland’s first vertiport, in Shannon, are looking ahead to 2026’s Ryder Cup when unmanned flights could be ferrying passengers from the airport to Adare Manor. Air taxi services such as this are one near term goal for the facility, with extensive possiblilities also to be explored in the cargo distribution and delivery area. An agreement has been reached between Shannon Group and three other bodies to develop the passenger and cargo vertiport, which would be located adjacent to the airport. Shannon Group, Skyports, Future Mobility Campus Ireland and Avtrain all signed a memorandum of understanding on the project and are working to develop the facility by the end of next year. A long term goal is to establish the country’s first air taxi service. Explaining what a vertiport is, Julie Garland, CEO of Avtrain said, “It’s a bit like a …

McNamara ribs Tanaiste over previous role in Shannon appointments SHANNON Group badly needs to see a new chairperson appointed, Clare TD Michael McNamara told the Dáil last week. He also taunted the Tanaiste regarding the role he played in having Rose Hynes reappointed as its chair in the past. “It has been an extraordinarily difficult year for Shannon Airport. Throughout much, if not all, of the past year, it has not had a chair for its board of directors. “Strategic decisions need to be made at Shannon regarding its aviation business but also in respect of Shannon Heritage and its future. The chair of a board of directors is there to provide strategic guidance,” he said. “When the Tánaiste was Taoiseach, Shane Ross was his Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and I am told he wrote a book about the experience. “He rang the then chair of Shannon Airport to tell her he was not going to continue her …

SHANNON’S James Sexton has been chosen as a juror for the 2021 International Emmy Awards. These awards recognised the best television shows that are initially produced and aired outside the United States. Speaking this week, James said he was delighted to be chosen as a juror. “I’m a member of the board of the Emmys anyway. I’ve been a member for two years. A friend of mine invited me to an open day of television professionals and they asked would I be interested in joining. “So I’m a member of the International Emmys and this year they asked would I be interested in being a juror. I’ve actually a lot of my work done already, you have to watch X amount of programmes and judge them, and the Emmys are on in New York in November, so I’ll be going over to that. It’s great to be picked.” There are a few hundred jurors around the world, generally very accomplished …

Clare Oireachtas members angry over ‘extremely disappointing’ Aer Lingus snub AER Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton opted not to attend a sitting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport & Communications on Wednesday, at which she would have faced questioning from Clare’s Oireachtas members following the airline’s decision to close its Shannon cabin crew base. The airline has received significant financial support from the State while it is in discussions looking for more, and Wednesday’s decision by Ms Embleton not to appear has provoked some irritation. Ms Embleton had been given the option to attend either remotely or in person. Despite being unavailable for the committee meeting, which would have been open to the public and media; she was set to meet with the Taoiseach privately on Wednesday. Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Donal Moriarty would have attended the committee meeting in her place, but that was unacceptable to the members and the meeting was deferred until Ms Embleton is available. According …

FOR two police officers in New Mexico, in February, their fate was in the hands of the search and rescue teams who found them, when their aircraft crashed. A similar situation faced a businessman in 2019, when his aircraft crashed in the middle of the ocean.  All three were successfully rescued and returned to safety, thanks in no small way to the team at the IAA North Atlantic Communications Centre in Ballygirreen. Using the latest technology, they were able to direct the search and rescue crews to the exact locations of the crashed aircraft. One member of that team is Paula Quinn, who has 12 years’ experience in the sector, firstly as radio officer and now as a watch manager. Paula explains that it is vital the locations of all aircraft are monitored at all times and that until recently, it was difficult to get exact, real-time locations for aircraft flying over the oceans. “Monitoring of these aircraft relied solely …

NEGATIVE online commentary about Shannon and Clare County Council’s role in running it was criticised this week, with several members of the Shannon MD saying it’s time to point out some of the positive things about Clare’s second largest town. Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn called out those he referred to as “keyboard warriors”, who always criticise the town and elected representatives. “They hide beyond their keyboards and they’re always negative, negative, negative.” He said it’s time that the Council “spoke up about all that is good about Shannon”. A motion from Councillor Flynn asked that the Council engage a public relations specialist to publicise “the many positives that exist in Shannon Town as a place to live, bring up a family and avail of the many opportunities that exist for employment, education, social interests and also an expansive landscape to enjoy”. Councillor Flynn says the local authority has the web address shannon.ie available to it, and this could be used …

AER Lingus called its Shannon base “inefficient” in a letter to Tanaiste Leo Varadkar outlining why it is closing its cabin crew base in the Clare airport. The airline wrote to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on Tuesday, and the letter also sought to put some of the blame for the situation on aviation policies the Government has pursued. “Aer Lingus has suffered very significant damage as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, particularly as travel restrictions in Ireland have been more stringent than in any country in Europe,” the second paragraph stated. It also said that the airline had lost €361 million last year, and another €103 million in the first three months of this year, and is now carrying a large debt burden. The airline claimed that Shannon had been uncompetitive prior to the pandemic. “The Shannon base has been inefficient and out of line with market for a significant period of time. “In addition, we …